Dianne Feinstein: “We can’t have a totally armed society”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein was more than cordial to National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre at Wednesday’s big gun hearing, noting they had done battle 18 years ago when the California Democrat passed her 1995 assault weapons ban, expired since 2004.

“You look pretty good, actually,” the California Democrat told LaPierre. No fireworks there.Her new assault weapons ban appears to be headed nowhere fast, given the lack of support among Democratic leaders. (See below.)

But she addressed all her questions to James Johnson, Baltimore County’s chief of police and chair of the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence.

“This is such a hard debate because people have such fixed positions,” She said. “Police I think see killings as they are. Many people do not. The streets speak about this issue.”

Flipping through what appeared to be a gun catalog, Feinstein said the apparently popular AR 15 can be modified to permit 400 to 800 rounds per minute, and two, three or four rounds at a time. The former San Francisco mayor, who put her finger through Harvey Milk’s wrist only to find a bullet hole, described in even tones these firearms’ “tremendous velocity and tremendous killing power,” which “I suspect tears young bodies apart.”

As for the call to put armed guards in schools, “Most people believe, sure we can have guards at schools,” Feinstein said. “What do you do about malls? What do you do about movie theaters? What do you do about businesses? We can’t have a totally armed society.”

As for banning certain categories of guns in her bill, she said it exempts 2,000 specific weapons by make and model, and ban 158 assault weapons.